Judgment is a dangerous and destructive form of witnessing the world. It is the antithesis of yogic, or martial arts theology, in that it takes little to no effort to reach unenlightened conclusions about people. It takes no intelligence or wisdom to collapse the complexity of being human into simple stereotypes, holding people prisoner to their past, or future. In contrast, yoga and martial arts in their various forms, holds space for people as they mature, grow and awaken. These arts develop the act of witnessing what is, without needing to change, control, or judge it. To be a yogi or martial artist, is to be in the constant act of being completely present to now, without contrasting it with what was, and what will be.

Judgment has become as natural an expression of the human being, as has spoken word. And like speaking is vastly different from conversing, judgment is vastly different from discernment. Judgement is at best, an informed opinion, resulting in a conclusion, which suggests finality to an idea, a thought, or an action. Judgment reaches an ending, when in fact there is no such place. Our history, wether it be cultural, social or personal, demonstrates that conclusion traded for curiosity often leads to hatred, bigotry, and prejudice. Judgment of people is an arrogant act, as it requires the combination of ego and ignorance to achieve.

When we judge rather than discern, we loose sight of differences, only to be left with inflexibleversions of right and wrong. We know there is outcome as a result of action. But outcome as it applies to people changes, because people change. Judgment is permanent, and leaves no room for our inevitable changes. When we judge, we often conclude a complete understanding of the past, present and future of things. This is foolish thinking, not reflective of enlightenment; to see with the light. Judgment disregards the complexity of our motivations, and reduces them to simple actions, and simple conclusions. The underdeveloped and unrealized mind collapses infinite amounts of data into sound bites, headlines, stereotypes, and tag lines, assigning permanent meaning to every experience. We are in fact meaning makers by nature.

We take a rich and complex moment, and assign to it a singular and simplistic explanation. Yet, WHAT we are seeing, is not WHY we are seeing it. The mind requires quick and concise processing so as not to leave us standing paralyzed with possibility. After all how can weprotect ourselves from danger if we cannot collapse immeasurable amounts of information into immediate action. Survival is paramount to success. And that which produces a positive outcome for survival gets repeated first, forming our beliefs. But this is easy in contrast to the extraordinary effort to leave space for what lies ahead of ones own progressing and evolving understanding of truth.

The Judgmental mind is only an obstacle in the development of an ever evolving self. Therefor, it is our responsibility to self audit, self educate, self correct, and to develop self awareness through discernment. It is our responsibility to relate, to resolve and to return to ourselves for accountability through discernment. It is our responsibility to see people as an unfolding process, rather than a product of our ever-changing personal ideologies, ethics, and values.